Loudon Wainwright III and Richard Thompson @ The Egg, 10/18/09

By GREG HAYMES
Special to the Times Union
ALBANY – The Loud and Rich Tour rolled into The Egg on Sunday evening, and while it wasn’t particularly loud, the music certainly was rich.
Of course, it’s difficult to imagine anything less when two such exquisite songwriters as Loudon Wainwright III and Richard Thompson get together on the same stage. Although both of them have performed previously at The Egg (and other area venues) individually, this was their first area joint performance. And hopefully, it won’t be their last.
Both of them have deep roots in the ’60s folk music scene and have maintained strong devoted followings for more than 40 years. This despite the fact that between them they only one hit – Wainwright’s “Dead Skunk” (which thankfully went unperformed on Sunday).
Wainwright kicked off the evening with a 70-minute set featuring lots of new material. In the past year, he’s released “Recovery” (a collection of newly recorded versions of some of his oldest songs), as well as the two-CD set, “High Wide & Handsome” (a tribute to early country singer Charlie Poole). “Motel Blues” was the best of the “Recovery” tunes, dripping with a not so quiet desperation. The rousing “Didn’t He Ramble” was the best of the Poole selections, although Wainwright’s own ode to Poole, the album’s title track, was nearly as good with Wainwright frailing away at the banjo. He also moved to the grand piano for “Another Song in C” – one of his many songs about broken homes and his disfunctional family – but stuck to his guitar for the rest of the night.
The core of his repertoire, however, was a batch of brand new topical songs – “songs for the new depression,” he called them – including the sing-along “Cash for Clunkers” and the uncharacteristically optimistic “The Middle of the Night.”
Thompson was his usual brilliant self, reeling off one mindboggling guitar solo after another in the midst of songs that were heartbreaking (the opening “I Misunderstood”), vengeful (“Time’s Gonna Break You”) and simply harrowing (the ominous Iraq war ode “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me”). He pulled out several classics, including “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight” and “1952 Vincent Black Lightning,” but the most powerful song of the night was a savage, rock-ish rendition of “Crawl Back (Under My Stone),” which built to a towering crescendo.
And, yes, they did sing a handful of songs together, joining forces for Thompson’s “Down Where the Drunkards Roll,” Wainwright’s “The Swimming Song,” Charlie Poole’s “The Deal,” the Coasters’ “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” and Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere.” Great stuff.
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The Loud and Rich Tour
Featuring Loudon Wainwright III and Richard Thompson
Where: The Egg, Empire State Plaza, Albany
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18
Length: Wainwright – 70 minutes; Thompson – 75 minutes
Musical highlights: Thompson’s “Crawl Back (Under My Stone),” Wainwright’s “The Swimming Song”
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Greg Haymes is a freelance writer from the wilds of Schodack.

One Response

I agree with the review, but another nice thing was both Loud and Rich came out after their sets to sign autographs. Thompson’s “52 Vincent” rendition was freshened by his amazing envelope-pushing solos–I’ve probably heard this 7-8 times in his concerts and haven’t heard the same solos twice.